2 adults, a very spoilt cat and a caravan following the sun….

Navigation

Tag Archives: mince pies

Post navigation

In March of this year we climbed La Maroma. It is the mountain that stands behind us here on the campsite in Iznate.

When we climbed it in March we did so from the other side to the one we look at everyday as this is the ‘ahem’ easier route; although at 6788ft easy is not something that you would immediately associate with it.

This weekend though we (well hubby actually) decided we should go and investigate it from our side of the mountain. If I didn’t know any better I would say that hubby has a slight ‘fixation’ with this mountain!!

The plan was to just climb some of it and then turn and head back as we had left it too late in the day to climb it all and more to the point after a lazy summer we are out of practice on the long walks!!

The weather was once again on our side and conducive to hiking and we set off at about midday and had a lovely few hours up on the mountainside. I can’t say that the lower parts of this climb are too different to the ones of the other side of the mountain but I am sure it gets steeper the higher you get.

We were lucky enough again to see four eagles circling overhead. I never tire of seeing these amazing birds gliding past as you get a glimpse into their world of crystal clear air and views for miles around.

Anyways, it was another lovely day out in the fresh air, walking, picnicking and chilling…….enjoy the photo’s 🙂

The walk started from the town hall in Canillas, see the small town about 1/3rd of the way up Maroma in the top picture. Canillas is a typical white washed Spanish village, all narrow streets and very steep!

Living in a very small space with three cats was always going to take some getting used to. We have never let them sleep on the bed overnight (well I did if hubby was away!!) but usually they slept in another part of the house to us at night – in their own baskets and beds of course. So, to have to sleep all together on one bed – well that was going to take some getting used to.

We tried putting the bottom bunk down at night and placing them all on it before lights out in an attempt to encourage them to stay put. Cats being cats however, they would quite happily sleep on the bunk all evening but as soon as the lights went out over to the bed they would come. Molly was the best behaved and tended to stay put all night, followed by Tinker who held it together for the most part but bringing up the rear was Oscar who couldn’t for the life of him keep still. He would quite happily snuggle up to me for a few hours and if at all possible try to get his paws on my pillow!! but that was pretty much his limit and then the walking back and forth across the bed would start.

Another solution was obviously needed and so we came up with the idea of ‘curtains’ to divide our bed area off from the rest of the caravan. That way we could have our bed and the cats could have their’s.

I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on buying curtains as we weren’t entirely sure it was going to work. Our guys are nothing if not persistent and if there was going to be a way through them then they would find it. So, I brought two flat sheets in a burnt orange colour or ‘naranja’ as they say here. We fitted a curtain pole and attached some hooks down either side of the caravan so I could hook the curtains to the wall and hopefully stop them coming in that way. The sheets are long enough that the excess can be tucked under the bed stopping them coming in from the bottom and I clip the two sheets together in the middle so that route is sealed as well.

Two nights in and they are working really well. I didn’t get a good night’s sleep last night but that was due to thunderstorms and VERY strong winds that threatened to blow the caravan over and not the cats. Tinker has tried valiantly on both nights to get through our defences but she hasn’t been able too (yet!!) and she soon settles down on her bed instead.

I didn’t get any time before we left the UK to ‘redecorate’ the interior of the caravan and so it still has dusty pink curtains and carpets. Nothing wrong with that but I want a brighter more funkier colour scheme. We are trying hard to find some lino to put down on the floor to make it easier to keep clean and I want to replace the existing curtains at some point. We have a bright pink duvet cover on the bed and that along with the orange curtains is in keeping with my ‘bright theme’. I think the orange curtains actually give the caravan a bit of a ‘Arabian nights theme’ so I may add some gold accessories into the mix as well??!!

With Christmas now only 3 weeks away my thoughts have also turned towards decorating the caravan with our christmas decorations. I would normally have my 7ft tree up by now swamped with decs, but obviously I had to leave that behind:(( I had to sort through everything and brought my favourite pieces whilst bequeathing the rest to my sis. I set aside some time at the weekend to put the decorations up, accompanied by a glass of sherry, some mince pies (raw of course) and our Caribbean Christmas carols CD. Everything looked really good and it felt like santa’s grotto but unfortunately the following day we realised that a month spent banging our heads against decorations every time we moved was going to drive us both potty. So, I took them down and we vowed to start a new tradition this year. The decorations will go back up again on the morning of Christmas Eve when we can enjoy them properly. It’s all a learning curve this caravaning malarkey!!!!